LAW ENFORCEMENT REJECTS PERMITLESS CONCEALED-CARRY EFFORT: With the state House poised to debate legislation Wednesday ending the requirement that people obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon in North Carolina, law enforcement agencies around the state are lining up in opposition to the measure. House Bill 746 would allow any U.S. citizen 18 or over who legally owns a gun to carry it concealed without a permit anywhere he or she can carry it openly, except where prohibited. Concealed carry permits are issued through a county sheriff's office, which conducts a criminal background check and looks for records of mental illness or incapacity. Applicants must also be at least 21 years old and must show they have passed an eight-hour gun safety class. "They're getting some training. They're getting some knowledge of the law. But just to say, 'You're 18 years old, take a gun and go,' that bothers me," Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison said Tuesday.
http://www.wral.com/law-enforcement-opposes-proposal-to-relax-concealed-gun-rules/16746405/

MCCRORY TAKES JABS AT COOPER, WHINES ABOUT VOTER ID ABSENCE: McCrory, a Republican who lost to Cooper last November, had strong words for his successor on Hurricane Matthew relief efforts and on the lawsuits between the governor and legislature. “Shame on Gov. Cooper for trying to blame President Trump” for the government’s slow response to Hurricane Matthew funding, McCrory said. “Don’t blame someone else for the lack of leadership.” The former governor also had advice for the legislature. Republican House and Senate leaders were in the crowd at the NCGOP convention. “I know for a fact that we had a lot of noncitizens that were voting,” McCrory said. “Ladies and gentlemen, voter ID would have stopped it. Keep it a clean bill, stay with a voter ID law and get that passed.”
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article154239819.html

BURR SAYS NO HEALTH CARE OVERHAUL LIKELY THIS YEAR: U.S. Sen. Richard Burr said Thursday he doesn’t expect the Senate to agree on a comprehensive plan to repeal and replace Obamacare by the end of the year. Burr, the Republican chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said the America Health Care Act the House passed is “dead on arrival” in the Senate and “it’s not a good plan.” In May, Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis told a conservative group in downtown Raleigh that he and his colleagues in the Senate would wait for a nonpartisan financial analysis of the health bill to be released, but that they would work to address needed changes to the House version of the bill. “I’m confident we’re going to get a bill to the president’s desk,” Tillis said at the time.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/under-the-dome/article15...

SECOND HANGMAN'S NOOSE LEFT IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN MUSEUM AT SMITHSONIAN: Tourists found a noose Wednesday on the floor of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the second left at a Smithsonian site in less than a week, officials said. The gallery containing an exhibit on segregation was closed for about three hours while U.S. Park Police investigated the incident in the nation's capital, Smithsonian officials said. "The noose has long represented a deplorable act of cowardice and depravity — a symbol of extreme violence for African Americans, ..." Bunch said. "This was a horrible act, but a stark reminder of why our work is so important." Another noose had been found Friday on the grounds of the Hirshhorn Museum, which features contemporary art and culture.
http://www.wral.com/noose-found-inside-smithsonian-s-african-american-museum/16735167/

RUSSIAN COMPLAINS ABOUT SECRET MEETINGS BEING EXPOSED BY LEAKS TO US MEDIA: Speaking to Russian news agencies on Tuesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said: "You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow: maybe you'll see what you discussed with your counterpart on the pages of Washington Post or on CNN." Ryabkov did not elaborate, but added that the communication with the Trump administration is currently "on the basic level" because he "wouldn't tell my counterparts in Washington what I wouldn't be able to tell you." Ryabkov's comments came several days after top White House adviser Jared Kushner faced allegations that he tried to create back-channel communications with Russia.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/nation-world/world/article153310864.html